SCOTT COKER ANNOUNCES 16-MAN BELLATOR FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT

Bellator president Scott Coker went on Ariel Helwani’s ESPN MMA Show on Monday and disclosed that his marketing is thinking about running a 16-man featherweight grand prix tournament. According to Coker, the championship will start operating in October and will feature 16 of the top featherweights in Bellator, including fighters already in the division as well as bantamweights moving upward and potentially even lightweights moving . The featherweight tournament follows at the forefront of the promotion’s heavyweight grand prix, which only saw Ryan Bader crowned winner, and also the welterweight tournament, which is still continuing.
Coker told Helwani he wants the very first round of eight fights in the championship to take place on one night or on back-to-back nights in the autumn. He also said he needs the championship to complete within a year, which practically mirrors the heavyweight and welterweight championship timelines.
As far as who will be among the 16 fighters in the championship, so far nobody has been declared, however, Coker did say he desires Bellator featherweight champion Patricio”Pitbull” Freire to be part of the championship game. Pitbull is taking on Michael Chandler in May for its Bellator lightweight name, so if he does participate in the championship he will be the champion, meaning his belt will be on the line in every round of the tournament just like Rory MacDonald’s welterweight title is on the line each time he fights.
So far as other featherweights that are expected to maintain the tournament, here are some who seem to be close locks: Rising prospect AJ McKee; leading rival Henry Corrales; former champ Daniel Straus; former champ Pat Curran; former top prospect Aaron Pico; former name contender Emmanuel Sanchez; and former UFC fighter Sam Sicilia.
The fact there are not 16 featherweights ways that bantamweights are also invited to move up, and Coker already said that James Gallagher and Darrion Caldwell is going to be requested to take part in the championship. I would also anticipate Ricky Bandejas and Juan Archuleta to be asked, too. So far as lightweights go, there might possibly be a couple of fighters who could create the cut down a weight class including Derek Campos, who simply fought featherweight in his last struggle, and Ryan Scope, who only lost a close struggle against Patricky”Pitbull” Freire.
It is exciting to see Bellator continue to hold such tournaments as the sport of MMA was build on the tournament format. The advertising’s bedrock back in the Bjorn Rebney days has been the championships but when Coker first came in they began to go out in trade for superfights and legends fights. Nonetheless, it seems like Coker, Bellator, Paramount and DAZN adore the tournaments as it is the third one the promotion will be running over the previous couple of years. At this point, you need to wonder what another tournament for Bellator is, and if I had to guess that it would be something in the women’s divisions. For now, though, featherweight has become a great set of conflicts.
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